Before the Instagram team debuted Hyperlapse, creating a time-lapse video with your smartphone was both tedious and, to be honest, hard.

Hyperlapse is an iOS-only standalone app that launched earlier this week. According to a report from Wired, the app won't be available for Android devices until Google implements some necessary API changes involving the gyroscope and camera.

That said, if you own an iPhone and are itching to create time lapses the easy way, via Hyperlapse, then keep reading. Pocket-lint has detailed a step-by-step guide on how to get started. We've even provided some popular examples that have surfaced on the Internet thus far.

And don't worry if you're not a fan of Instagram. You can download Hyperlapse at no cost and begin shooting straightaway, without having to connect to Instagram, meaning you won't ever need to associate yourself with the filter-heavy photo app.

What is time lapse?

Time lapse or time-lapse photography is a cinematography technique whereby frequency at which film frames are captured (the frame rate) is much lower than that used to view the sequence. When you replay this sequence at normal speed, time appears to be moving faster and thus lapsing.

Simply put: time-lapse photography is time manipulation. Objects and events that would normally take hours, days, months, or years can be captured and then viewed later at a much faster speed, thanks to time-lapse photography techniques.

The advent of smartphones has made easier the process of creating time lapses, because the technique traditionally requires expensive camera equipment, accessories, and software. And now with Hyperlapse, it's never been easier to shoot and share time-lapse videos.

The video below, by Canon, shows how intense time-lapse photography can be without smartphones and apps.

Here's how Hyperlapse works:

Introduction

1. Download the Hyperlapse app from Apple's App Store, if you haven't already. It doesn't cost a thing and requires iOS 7 or later. Although Hyperlapse works with iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch, it is optimised for iPhone 5.

2. Open the Hyperlapse app. Upon launching, the app will immediately walk you through example time-lapse videos and then ask for permission to access your camera and microphone. You'll want to grant it permission.

4. Take a second to note the two different time indicators underneath the shutter button. The indicator on the left shows the total time recorded, while the indicator on the right shows you the time-lapse length at the default speed of 6x.

5. In addition, you can stop looking for the stabilisation feature at this point. It's an always-on feature that can't be disabled, though Hyperlapse will show you later on how a time lapse appears before it is stabilised.

Edit

6. Once you stop recording a video, the edit mode will launch. You will see a slide that lets you adjust the speed of the video, ranging from 1x to 12s. The default speed is 6x. Keep in mind that a higher speed will shorten the length of your video, and a lower speed will lengthen it.

7. Now you can view your video without stabilisation. Just touch the screen as your video plays and an "unstabilised" caption will appear along the bottom of the screen, indicating you are now previewing the unstabilised version. You can't save or share this preview.

Share

8. After admiring your video and its stabilised-glory, you can select the checkmark on the preview screen to save it to your camera roll. A prompt will follow after you save the video, giving you options to share to Instagram or Facebook.

Save

9. If you don't want to save or share the video immediately, tap the red "X" button on the preview. You will then see options to edit later (save the video within Hyperlapse for editing later) or you could simply delete the video altogether.

10. To access your saved videos within Hyperlapse, tap the blue circle on the record screen. And that's it.

Want to know more about Hyperlapse's stabilisation?

It has released a separate promo video to show off how it works, for instance, and Facebook has even published a blog post that describes the technology behind stabilisation. It's a pretty techy post but worth a read if you're seriously into time-lapse photography. For those of you who just want a quick demo and/or example, watch the video below.

Hyperlapse examples

And here's just some examples of time-lapse videos shot and edited using Hyperlapse. Enjoy.